If anyone knows what religion is being practiced in these pictures, please fill me in, I’d love to know.

So, if this is how they pray, just imagine what they pray. Also, I would like to note, that it says something about a parish, not only that it posts pictures on its homepage but what pictures it chooses to post. The parish had a choice; these were the photos, and the message it wanted to send. Very interesting…

Now you can see, why it sometimes seems on this side of Dayton, one has to be a member of Holy Family parish if for nothing more than out of a simple sense of necessity. So fortunately folks do have other options close-by on Sundays and Holy Days. (Thank you to Archbishop Schnurr for making that a reality!)

*UPDATE: A reader (Mobartz) reminds us of another local Dayton parish, Emmanuel Catholic Church, that also does a darn good job in both areas of worship and faithfulness.*

However, this begs a particular important question for my family as both Immaculate Conception and St. Helen Schools are the two closest Catholic schools to our home. (Ascension School is also close, but Ascension Parish is just as bad as the above pictures) I have to decide whether this is something I want to expose my children to during weekly “school liturgies” and religion class.

There is no version of Walnut Hills High School in Dayton or any elementary school equivalent, all the Dayton public schools are dumps. Homeschooling isn’t really feasible for our family, although there is the Dayton Homeschool Network, so maybe, there is an outside chance we could make it work. Kettering is close enough to our home (we live in a Kettering zip code) perhaps I could “sneak” them into the Kettering city school district (yeah, they’ll get liberal brainwashing, but at least it wouldn’t be done under the name of Catholicism and it is a suburban schools, so it isn’t terrible). Since we live in Dayton, and are eligible for EdChoice vouchers, perhaps I could just send them to the secular progressive Miami Valley School. Yeah, the kiddies will get liberal brainwashing, but at least it wouldn’t be under the banner of Catholicism, and at least the academics would be a notch above typical government schools.

Ideally I would like to send them to a Catholic school. However, why send them to Catholic school for watered-down religion and Mass? I can just send them to a government school and avoid a lot of headaches. But I ask all of you, as well as Archdiocesan Superintendent Dr. Riggs, and His Excellency Archbishop Schnurr, what should I do????? Should I just assume the photos and homilies above are aberrations? I already know, if they end up going to Catholic school, I’ll be that parent in the principal and pastor’s office raising a fit everytime they take a field trip to the local mosque for an ” interfaith” prayer session. Do I really need these kind of additional hassles in my life?

I guess what I’m getting at is, should Catholic parents jump through these hoops, and have to even consider these matters in the first place? Can we at least have more than one parish around these parts that remotely resembles Catholicism?

Church teaching can be trashed one of two ways: 1)directly, and unabashedly like Roy Bourgeois; or 2) though plain ambiguity. Now, with the former you usually can assign venial motives, however, with the latter it is usually too difficult to tell one way or the other. Regardless, the outcome is the same: 1) either Church teachings are interpreted by the faithful as being “nuanced” and therefore open to interpretation or as being left to one’s “personal conscience” to decide, or that the church teaching doesn’t even have an opinion on whatever issue it is that is being discussed. The faithful are left confused, and the salvation of souls takes another hit…which is why ambiguity should be avoided at all times when teaching the Faith.

Last December we had a very special parish council meeting. We invited three people who left the Catholic Church and three people who joined the Catholic Church to share their experience. We wanted to know why people make the decisions they make about belonging to a particular faith tradition. I soon realized that discussion like these are complex as well. I received two letters apart from the people who were present at the meeting; one from a young lesbian who feels unwelcomed in a Catholic environment and the other from a young mother who recently became Catholic but then could not reconcile her conscience with the church’s teaching on contraception. Those who were present at the meeting also shared their stories. Later when the parish council reflected on all their stories there were common strands we could identify. For one, we realized that those who had left the Catholic Church and those who joined her, were all very sincere people. Their choice was made out of a genuine conviction. But then, there is one trend that I found directly related to the three scripture readings today – a powerful experience of God. The Catholics who left the church did so because the Church could not give them what they were searching for – a God who was close and real. They found the church too rigid and ritualistic…

I would argue they didn’t find the church too rigid and ritualistic, they found the teachings of Christ too rigid and ritualistic.

You’ll remember Immaculate Conception as the parish-of-choice for the Cincinnati archdiocese to host RCIA and ordination events in the Dayton area. It is also the parish that recently installed a digital, flashing neon marquee that flashes (and not too effectively I might add… the blue on black layout is only legible from the street roughly 50% of the time during daylight hours) in big letters advertising Mass…err, “Eucharistic Celebrations”: 11AM TRADITIONAL (…and by traditional they don’t mean the Mass of All Ages/TLM, they mean the one mass during the day without a guitar or drum solo.) SAT 4:30PM FOLK MASS, SUN 6PM ROCK MASS (… ah yes, the splendid liturgical diversity of the Latin Church…the Ambrosian rite, the Cathusian rite, the Dominican rite, the Mozoarabic rite…. and the Folk and Rock rites. Ugh! Is it 1993 or 2013? At least if “Folk” and “Rock” masses are still going on, do they have to advertise it to the whole world on Smithville Road?), and the propensity to utilize projector screens and Powerpoint slides in sacred worship space as well as the most up-to-date jargon/buzzwords for describing the latest parish initiatives.

Now who knows where Fr. Joseph was going with this homily. I can tell you the liberal parishioners most certainly took it as a sly repudiation of Church teaching and walked away self-assured. I’m not expecting fire and brim stone when it comes to issues such as homosexual acts, and the use of contraception, in fact, please no fire and brim stone, but at least explain something from the chapters of the Catechism of the Catholic Church’s Section 2. Also, no mention of the Church’s ongoing struggles against the tyrannous HHS Mandate or against gay so-called marriage. I can’t assign any ill-motive to Fr. Joseph, however this whole thing is a cautionary tale for those entrusted with teaching the Faith, particularly as it pertains to sensitive and contemporary social/political issues.

In the archdiocese’s most recent Clergy Communications, the following is provided on “WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH VOCATIONS OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS THAT SERVE IN THE ARCHDIOCESE?”:

In May 2012 the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph welcomed a Novice in Baton Rouge, LA. In November the CSJs also welcomed a candidate who will most likely move into Novitiate August 2013. On Sunday June 24, 2012 the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati formally welcomed two Affiliates; they will continue to live at the Casa de Caridad in southern New Mexico. The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur have two second year Novices who are out on mission for part of this year and who will return to Cincinnati to prepare for First Vows. They also have an Affiliate who resides with the Sisters in Phoenix. The Franciscan men have two postulants this year and the Marianists have one Second Year Novice. The Sisters of Mercy have a candidate as of August 4th and an Apostolic novice since October 1st living in the house of hospitality in Walnut Hills; and one Temporary Professed as well living and working in the Archdiocese. The Congregation of Divine Providence has a Postulant living and in ministry in the Archdiocese.

Not exactly impressive, would you say? I guess some is better than none. But then there is the final sentence of the paragraph regarding a less liberal religious order:

CHANCERY OFFICE
STATUS REPORT OF JAMES KIFFMEYER
In July 2012, James Kiffmeyer resigned as pastor of Holy Family Parish, Price Hill and requested and was granted a personal leave of absence which began on August 1, 2012.
He recently informed Archbishop Schnurr that he has no intention of returning to ministry as a priest. He no longer has the faculties of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

Father Kiffmeyer, you may recall gained notoriety in 2002 when he was suspended by the AOC while an investigation was conducted regarding alleged sexual misconduct. Kiffmeyer, who denied all allegations, reached a “four figure” settlement with one of his accusers but was later reinstated by the Vatican in 2006.

Father Kiffmeyer also made the news exactly one year ago (Dec 2011) after a minor controversy erupted after he gave the closing prayer at a Cincinnati City Council swearing-in ceremony.

Father Kiffmeyer’s Facebook page was set to a public setting (as of 4:30pm Tuesday 4 December 2012) and showed that he is employed at a local tri-state pharmacy, that he is “single” and that he is interested in “women.” In the “About Jim” section it states “Too much to tell here.” One of his “likes” is the Da Vinci Code.

Although without priestly faculties, all signs seem to indicate that Father Killmeyer remains in the clerical state (for now).

Please pray for Holy Family parish in Price Hill, Father Killmeyer, and all troubled priests.